Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1887-08-06
COUNTRY LIFE AND WORK.


Be not too ready to deny me rhyme;
And when the hour comes, as 1t must, dear
Muse,
Ibeg you very gently break thenews.
IT. B. ALDRIoH, in Harper's Magazine for
August.
THROUGH THE STORM.
/ herd voice, tender voice, soft falling
Through the storm;
The waves were high. the bitter winds were
calling.
Yet breathing warm
OF skies serene, of sunny uplands lying
In peace beyond:
This tender voice, unto my voice replying,
Made answer fond;
Sometimes, indeed, like crash Of armies meet
ing,
Arose the gale;
But over all that sweet voice kept repeating,
~ shall not fail I" FL
MORA PERRY, in Harper Magazine forAugust.
GERMANY AND THE POTATO BUG.
Farmers need object lessons. The
German Government caught the idea
when they feared an invasion of the
fatherland with the decem lineata, our
own potato BEETLE. That every man,
woman or child who worked in the field
might recognize the new foe at first
sight, and set the heel upon him, the
government had faithful, exact, ife-like
pictures of the potato BEETLE scattered
all through the land. The pictures
were made of exact colors and size Of the
beetle. They show him up in all stages
OF Development, from egg to larvae,
from larv@ to full-grown beetles, and
placed them on the potato plant and
on the ground in natural positions.
Then follow written descriptions OF
habits, time of appearance, and how to
destroy them. Every German was
taught to destroy the curse at sight.
In every school-room and every pub
lie house or building and in every farm
house these cuts and instructions could
be seen. Every child in Germany
doubtless knows enough of this beetle
now to know what is best to do with
him. The potato beetle was welcomed
with bloody hands to hospitable grave
on German soil. Just so should we
welcome every foreign weed or insect
or sparrow that appears here. Had
Americans been as well and promptly
informed of the nature and appearance
of the Hessian fly, and what to do with
it, can it be supposed that the curse
would have become so universal? Our
government can not expend our money
more wisely than by furnishing such
information. 1t is not enough to have
a volume of heavy reading matter illus
trated by few cuts go out as dead
matter-dead because too late.
KEEPING CABBAGE.
A correspondent of the Country
Gentleman says: The best method
of keeping cabbage that I ever tried
was to select piece of ground quite
dry, and at the same time mellow and
easy to trench with spade, or, if a
large number are TO be preserved, use
plough first and then the spade, or
round-pointed shovel, to shape the bot
tom and sides, and of sufficient width
and depth to receive the heads so they
will not touch either bottom or sides
of the trench. Now, take a piece of 2
by 4 inch scantling and place it edge
wise over the trench in such a position
that the heads will not touch either
side or bottom, after stripping off the
coarse, outside leaves; suspend the
heads under the scantling,
roots up, by putting a suitable nail
through the stump of the cabbage, the
roots coming up trifle higher than the
natural earth; then take some short
pieces of board, or other suitable matte
rial, just long enough to make sort
of rafter reaching from the edge of
the bank to the scantling, in such posi-
ton as to give a slight pitch; place a
board on these rafters, lenghtwise, of
course; scatter over it sufficient guam
tity of straw, or other coarse material,
to prevent the earth from falling in:
throw on sufficient quantity of loose
earth which came out of the trench, to
prevent too much freezing, and it will
keep the heads cool and sufficiently
moist. Delay placing the heads in pos
ition as long as the weather will permit.
The trenches may be in sections of 10
or IL feet, as in opening in spring it
would be better not to let the air come
to all at once.
SUMMER FLOWING.
IT any time can be spared from other
work, the fields which are to be soWn
to wheat or to grass seed this fall should
be plowed as soon as may be. Plowed
now and worked over with the cultiya-
tor or with the disk harrow few times
before the time for seeding will make a
better seed bed that if plowed before
sowing time, and the weed seed will
have opportunity to terminate and be
killed, SO that weeds will be much less
plenty. Often in a field plowed just be-
fore seeding, the weeds get such agood
start of the good seed as to place the
latter at q disadvantage all the season.
A worthless weed often takes the man
ure and the moisture that should have
supported the crop, and then so shades
the other as to give it but a small chance
for life. It is easy to kill few million
weeds in a day with the harrow or
horseshoe, if they are only encouraged
to sprout, and then kill while small.
1t is not too late to SOW Hungarian
grass, millet or fodder-corn this month,
if there is land that can be used for such
crops. The first often does better sown
July than in June. The corn will not
get as large growth or be as valuable
for feeding as if it were sown earlier,